Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Sometimes Things Work Out

I just got home from a fun evening out with a new friend of mine and am thinking how cool it is to meet new people that you end up caring about.

Okay, that was one of the most tortured sentences I have ever written. Here's the story: Several months ago, you'll recall that I started tutoring an 11-year old girl as a part-time job. As most of my part-time jobs have, it turned out to be a lot of work for not a lot of payola. I mean, really -- there is absolutely nothing on my resume to suggest that I would ever voluntarily do MATH. I was an English major, for crap's sake!

But as I began to get close to the end of the tutoring period, I realized that I had grown quite attached to my . . . tutoree? . . . tutee? . . . anyway, to the girl I'll henceforth refer to as Little. She's quite a live one, Little, and I really enjoyed our conversations (when they weren't about the properties of an isosceles triangle). Actually, I started to really like the whole family. I tossed around the idea of asking her mom if I could keep in touch, but that seemed kind of weird. So I started thinking about getting involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters, in the hopes of bonding equally well with another kid.

Then, on one of my last tutoring nights, I arrived at Little's house at the same time as a co-worker of mine. Weird. Turns out, SHE had recently signed up with BBBS, and been matched with Little's little sister, Littlest. Little's mom told me that she had actually signed up all three girls, Little, Littler, and Littlest, and was waiting on matches for Little and Littler.

Are you confused yet? Sorry, I'll try to wrap it up.

Anyway, to make a really long story just about as long, I contacted BBBS and told them that I really want to be a Big Sister for Little, and at the same time, Little's mom contacted BBBS and told them that they would really like to have Little matched with me. And it worked out perfectly!

We met last weekend to go over all the rules, and tonight, Little and I had our End of Tutoring/Start of Big Sistering Celebratory Dinner at Texas Roadhouse (her choice), where we ate lots and lots of rolls with cinnamon butter, and talked about everything from movies (we both like sci-fi-ish stuff), to politics (she's warming up to the idea of a stimulus payment), to the merits of bikinis over "whole pieces".

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We can dance like no one else.Fingers entwinedYour hand in the small of my backWe delicately place one footIn front of anotherMatching our steps to blue plastic feetStuck to the ground.If we stumble I will laughYou will bite your lip,Then remember to smile.It is only a dance,A set of rules that tell usWhere to step,Where to place our hands.